ORIGINAL: UStik
Duane, Ed might have been concerned about twisting of the swept wing. Besides, there was obviously very light balsa available so there was no real problem sheeting the whole wing. The ''carrier wing'' has diagonal braces to stiffen it against torsion, that's why I think that might be the reason.
And as to the AUW, didn't Kevin Clark do a lightweight job with his Simla?
Yes, at first I had it at 8.9 pounds dry. I had read the scale wrong and the actual dry weight was 8.43 pounds. I used the wood that came with the kit and did not use contest balsa anywhere. The big weight savings was to sand everything as paper thin as possible and Monokote covering. I did a lot of shaving wood from the plank insides. I did not make any holes in ribs/tips at all. There is no doubt in my mind that if contest balsa was used coupled with placing holes in every piece that was not structural the weight could be close to 7 pounds.